Ace Combat 8 early access revives a PS2 classic with a PC catch
Early access to Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is live for Deluxe Edition owners, three days ahead of its release on 2 October 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. The talking point is not the new jet combat game itself, but how its headline pre-order bonus works on PC.
Anyone who pre-ordered any version of the game gets a copy of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, a 2006 favourite that never left PlayStation 2 until now, alongside an unlocked F-14A aircraft available at launch, according to Bandai Namco. Eurogamer reported the bonus applies across all versions. A pre-order bonus is an extra item offered for buying before release. In this case it is a full older game.
On PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, The Belkan War arrives as a separate standalone app. On Steam, it arrives as DLC, a downloadable add-on tied to another game, that requires Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve to be installed. Eurogamer reported that distinction after checking how the bonus is delivered on each storefront.
The Steam listing changed its wording. It first described The Belkan War as a standalone application separate from the full game. It now describes the Steam version as a DLC executable that needs the main game installed to run.
That detail matters because of file sizes. Ace Combat 8 needs an approximately 135GB install, while the port of The Belkan War is under 4GB. Players who want to keep the smaller classic must therefore keep the much larger new game on their drive as well.
There are other limits on Steam. The Belkan War has no achievements of its own and no cloud-save support, with playtime and screenshots logged under Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve. It does have its own install folder inside the Ace Combat 8 directory and can be started directly through its executable, but Ace Combat 8 must stay installed.
For fans, this means the PC bonus feels less like a keeper and more like a loan tied to a hard drive. Response has been sharp. Many of the game’s negative Steam reviews mention the delivery change, and the issue is among the most-discussed topics on the Ace Combat subreddit, an online forum where players organise discussion.
Bandai Namco has not changed the core offer. Digital pre-orders still include the F-14A and The Belkan War, as listed by the publisher for both Standard and Deluxe editions. The dispute is purely about how that second item lives on PC once early access turns into full release.
